Blacklock's Reporter

In 1918 the Imperial War Graves Commission enacted two notable regulations. All dead were to be buried with their units, regardless of rank, near the spot where they fell. And all families of the dead could submit personal messages, to 66 characters, to be carved into kin’s headstones.

The effect was profound: mammoth, manicured battlefield cemeteries with indelible inscriptions. Wilfrid Laurier University Press asks, what did they write? Epitaphs were thoughtful, angry, ironic. They are collected in Canada’s Dream Shall Be Of Them. It is a beautiful, elegant book that will bring a reader to tears.

The epitaphs “were contributed not by the poets or artists we tend to associate with the Great War and modern memory, but by ordinary men and women,” writes Toronto historian Eric McGeer; “They are a window into another world, not a mirror to our own.”

Cabinet must suspend its “safe supply” drug policy as a killer, says a member of the Commons health committee. Conservative MP Todd Doherty (Cariboo-Prince George, B.C.), choking back tears, told the committee he’d lost a brother-in-law to an accidental fentanyl overdose and was unable to save another brother “who lives on the street.”

More than 29,000 foreign fugitives are at large nationwide, says the Canada Border Services Agency. Management in a report to MPs called it their “wanted inventory” including foreigners convicted of crimes: "I don’t quite understand why we would tolerate this."

The House affairs committee yesterday dropped further public discussion into how a Waffen SS member was given a hero’s welcome on Parliament Hill. “Cover-up,” said one MP who pressed for public hearings: "What we have is the cover-up coalition at work yet again."

A former deputy minister of public safety yesterday testified it was “not my job” to warn a Conservative MP he was targeted by Chinese agents. Rob Stewart told the House affairs committee that foreign agents target “many people in Canada" that he never warned: "It was not my job to inform them."

The size of the federal government’s payroll is worrisome, Budget Officer Yves Giroux said yesterday. The number of employees has increased 26 percent since 2015, by official estimate: "But we haven’t seen similar improvements when it comes to service."

The Commons ethics committee last night voted to summon Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne for questioning in an investigation of suspected “green-washing” involving federal subsidies. However the committee by a 7 to 4 vote rejected a Conservative request for all records concerning Sustainable Development Technology Canada: "There is a basic question of trust here."

Cabinet’s two billion trees program will not plant two billion trees, says the Department of Natural Resources “So why is it called the two billion trees program?” asked Conservative MP Michael Kram (Regina-Wascana): "Why not rename it the billion-and-a-half tree program?"

The Department of Environment acknowledges it did not count Canadians’ different rates of fuel use in calculating average costs of new climate change regulations. Conservative MP Dan Mazier (Dauphin-Swan River, Man.) said estimates ignored distinctions like urban versus rural fuel consumption: "There was no disputing they were advised these regulations would increase the cost of fuel."

Cabinet will fight Alberta’s claim to more than half the Canada Pension Plan, ministers said yesterday. Warning of a drawn out pension fight followed a protest letter from the Prime Minister to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith: "I don’t buy the math."

A federal labour board will hear the case of a Muslim employee denied a religious exemption from 2021 vaccine mandates. The Department of Indigenous Services denied the waiver after noting vaccines “do not contain any gelatin, pork derivatives or human particles.”

Conservative and Bloc Québécois MPs yesterday demanded the CBC explain a reversal of its decades-old practice of referring to the listed terrorist group Hamas as terrorists. A management directive banning the “terrorist” reference was obvious censorship, MPs said: "Newsrooms must be shielded from all political influence and all ideological influence."

MPs demanded an explanation after New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh said “the seeds of genocide” were being sown in Gaza by Israeli Defence Forces. Legislators including Jewish MPs expressed alarm over Singh’s remark: 'Yes or no, do you believe Israel is committing genocide?'

The House affairs committee tomorrow is expected to vote on hearings into how a Waffen SS member was presented to the Commons as a Canadian hero. The September 22 incident “brought shame on Parliament,” MPs were told yesterday: "Canadians deserve answers."

Another top aide to the Prime Minister yesterday said he missed a 2021 warning that Chinese agents were targeting a Conservative MP. Mike MacDonald, former national security advisor, said an ongoing House affairs committee investigation should not be “about laying blame.”